Voting deadline nears in Chippenham school's bid to win a £250,000 house

St Nicholas School governor Beverley Crone with Stephen, Samuel and Susy Woodley, who nominated them for the Persimmon competition

With only six days to vote left, staff, parents and children at St Nicholas Special School in Chippenham are keeping their fingers crossed that they’ll win a brand new home worth £250,000.

Anyone can vote for the school to win the one-off prize on the website of Persimmon Homes, and with the school already one of just 24 left in the competition, headteacher Jill Owen said she is
holding her breath for the results.

The school, which takes on children with severe physical disabilities, would be allowed to sell the property in Andover and pocket the cash.
They would then buy their own house close to the school to teach children how to live as independently as possible.

Mrs Owen said: “I don’t want to tempt fate by thinking we will win, but it would mean we could use the house to help pupils learn everyday life and living skills, providing a true to life
experience in a safe environment.

"The support we've had so far has just blown us away and we're so grateful for everything everyone's done. Now we're calling on everyone we can to please vote for us.”

Even if St Nicholas doesn’t win, they will still benefit from a cash boost, as all the finalists will receive a cash donation of £6,000.

To vote for St Nicholas School click here
Voting is open until September 20. You are allowed one vote every day, so keep voting until then. The charity with the most votes will win a £250,000 house.

The winner will be revealed at a lunch in London on September 27.

Steve Roche, managing director of Persimmon Homes Wessex, said deciding a winner for the region was extremely difficult: “As you can imagine, choosing 24 finalists out of a total of 3,500
nominations was very hard. There were some wonderful nominations and the whole panel was moved by so many brilliant good causes.

“St Nicholas School really stood out for the panel as the charity does some amazing work. We’re delighted to at very least be handing over £6,000 to the charity, if not a brand new home if
they get the most votes in our competition. We hope people in the region really get behind the charity and cast as many votes as possible.”